A survey of COVID-19 contact-tracing apps

Nasro Min-Allah; Bashayer Abdullah Alahmed; Elaf Mohammed Albreek; Lina Shabab Alghamdi; Doaa Abdullah Alawad; Abeer Salem Alharbi; Noor Al-Akkas; Dhiaa Musleh; Saleh Alrashed

doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104787

A survey of COVID-19 contact-tracing apps

Comput Biol Med. 2021 Oct:137:104787. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104787. Epub 2021 Aug 21.

Authors

Nasro Min-Allah¹, Bashayer Abdullah Alahmed², Elaf Mohammed Albreek², Lina Shabab Alghamdi², Doaa Abdullah Alawad², Abeer Salem Alharbi², Noor Al-Akkas², Dhiaa Musleh², Saleh Alrashed³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: nabdullatief@iau.edu.sa.
² Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
³ Management Information Systems Department, College of Applied Studies and Community Service, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Recently, the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 virus caused a major health crisis by affecting masses around the world. The virus, which is known to be highly contagious, has forced the research community and governments to fight the disease and take prompt actions by applying various strategies to keep the numbers under control. These strategies range from imposing strict social distancing measures, isolating infected cases, and enforcing either a partial or a full lockdown, to mathematical modeling and contact-tracing applications. In this work, we survey the current contact-tracing apps and organize them based on underlying technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, geofencing, and Quick Response (QR) codes. We compare the main features of 22 existing applications and highlight each of the pros and cons associated with these different technologies.

Keywords: Application; COVID-19; Contact tracing; Disease spread.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Communicable Disease Control
Contact Tracing
Humans
SARS-CoV-2